Almost 60 crypto exchanges are expected to either reduce their operations or shut down. Only one crypto exchange in South Korea has been licensed to continue operations.

The deadline for wallet operators and cryptocurrency exchanges to comply with the new regulatory requirements is to stay open for this week in South Korea.

As per the “Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information (Special Act),” crypto exchanges must be Information Security Management System (ISMS)-certified and register with the South Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) by September 24. The crypto exchanges that fail to do so must cease their operations on that date.

Thirty-four crypto exchanges have not received ISMS certification. Hence they are expected to shut their operations entirely on September 24. Twenty-nine crypto exchanges have been ISMS-certified. Out of them, only one crypto exchange has successfully registered with the FIU, which is a unit of the country’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

The first crypto business review meeting of the Financial Intelligence Unit was held on Friday. The meeting was held to review the report submitted by Dunamu Inc., which is the operator of the largest crypto exchange in the country, Upbit. The report was accepted by the review committee. This made Upbit the first licensed crypto exchange operator in the country.

On Friday, the FIU further revealed that four other crypto exchange operators, besides Upbit, have submitted a report. These four other crypto exchange operators include Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone, and Korea Digital Exchange (Flybit). In addition, Korea Digital Asset (KODA), a wallet operator, has also submitted a report.

The FSC said, “Considering that there is one week left until the 24th, virtual asset providers who have not yet filed a report should file a report promptly.”

Rushali Das

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA